SWITCHBLADE TO THE RESCUE by Bernard Levine (c)1993 - published in the OKCA Newsletter The Switchblade Menace In 1958, after a five-year campaign by politicians and the media, Congress enacted a ban on interstate commerce in switchblade knives, which President Eisenhower signed into law. Even the backers of this ban admitted that it would accomplish little in the way of curtailing crime. They acknowledged that it was largely symbolic, but empty symbolism wins more votes than genuine reform. Moreover, it was politically safer for our representatives to criminalize the actions of a few small manufacturers and mail-order dealers, than to punish the juvenile delinquency of the children of some of their constituents. The real motivation of some proponents of the ban is revealed in the Congressional Record. For a few, such as U.S. Senator Frederick G. Payne of Maine, the motive was ethnic prejudice. During a committee hearing Payne asked a witness, "Isn't it true that this type of knife, switchblade knife, in its several different forms, was developed, actually, abroad, and was developed by the so-called scum, if you want to call it, or the group who are always involved in crime?" Not just ethnic anxiety, but sexual anxiety, too, seemed to motivate some proponents of the ban. Representative Sidney R. Yates of Illinois proclaimed, "Vicious fantasies of omnipotence, idolatry... barbaric and sadistic atrocities, and monstrous violations of accepted values spring from the cult of the weapon, and the switchblade knife is included in this. Minus switchblade knives and the distorted feeling of power they beget--power that is swaggering, reckless, and itching to express itself in violence--our delinquent adolescents would be shorn of one of their most potent means of incitement to crime." Another outspoken advocate of banning switchblades at that time (and also of banning firearms and ammunition) was New York State Senator Frank J. Pino from Brooklyn. In his testimony before Congress Mr. Pino stated, "these knives are... inherently dangerous, they have only one purpose. They are just deadly. They are lethal weapons, and they are suited for crime, that is all they are suited for." The most persistent advocate of a switchblade ban was Representative James J. Delaney of New York City, author of the first federal anti-switchblade bill back in 1954. On April 17, 1958, he stated, "Every day our newspapers report numerous muggings and attacks, most of them involving knives. Can we sit by complacently and ignore the bloodshed in our streets? Doing away with switchblades will not be a cure-all for the crime wave sweeping the nation, but it will remove one of the favorite weapons of our juvenile and criminal element... it was not until about 1949 or 1950 that these things came into common usage. In the gathering of juvenile gangs and clans, nearly every one of them has a switchblade. It is a ritual with some of them to carry switchblades. It is not only the boys, but I was surprised to find that a great number of the girls carry them also." The Other Side of the Story Senator Payne and Congressman Delaney had made up their minds, so nothing would have been gained by confusing them with the facts. Switchblade knives came into common use in the United States, not around 1950 as Delaney stated, but around 1850. The first ones sold here did indeed come from abroad, as Payne complained; they came from Sheffield. By the 1890s, thanks to the inventive genius of Americans such as George Korn and George Schrade, American made switchblades had become popular worldwide. In 1904 George Schrade and two of his brothers, Louis and William, founded the Schrade Cutlery Company of Walden, New York. For the next four decades Schrade Cut. Co. was the leading American manufacturer of switchblade jack knives and pen knives, which the firm advertised thus: Operated With One Hand. No Breaking of Finger Nails. Will Not Open in Your Pocket. Will Not Close on the Fingers When in Use. The Schrade Safety Push Button Knife, of which we are the exclusive manufacturers, is rapidly becoming the leading knife on the market because of its many advantages over the ordinary pocket knife. Being easily operated with one hand it is far more convenient than the old style pocket knife which necessitates the use of both hands to open and frequently results in broken finger nails... This novel knife is especially suitable for a gift or souvenir, as it is something out of the ordinary, very useful, and when furnished with one of our attractive handles makes an ideal gift. * Senator Payne, Congressman Yates, Senator Pino, and Congressman Delaney were all living proof that the main reason we have foolish laws is that we elect foolish lawmakers--foolish and downright ignorant. As further demonstration of their folly and ignorance, here is an article that appeared in the June 1917 issue of The American Cutler magazine, published about a month after the United States had entered the First World War. The American Cutler was the monthly trade publication of the U. S. cutlery industry. Sweet, Orr & Co. was a mercantile firm. * Ship Torpedoed; Schrade Push Button Knife Saves Many Lives The following very interesting letter was received by Mr. Thomas E. Goring, Vice-President of Sweet, Orr & Co., Inc., a copy of which was sent to the Schrade Cutlery Company of Walden, New York, the manufacturers of the knife in question. * The Manor (County of London War Hospital) Epsom, Surrey, England, March 19, 1917 Mr. Thomas E. Goring Care of Sweet, Orr & Co., Inc. 15 Union Square New York, N. Y. My dear Mr. Goring: I want to tell you how you saved the lives of twenty-eight people. You remember presenting a knife to me (Dr. B. E. Hawke) while traveling with you from New Orleans. Well, I was on the "Laconia" that was torpedoed and sunk three hundred miles off the West Coast of Ireland. In lowering our lifeboat into the water, we got about two-thirds of the way down the ship side when the rope attached to the front ends on the boat got fast in the pulley, and as the stern was gradually going down, we were in a fair way to be dumped into the sea when some one called for a knife and I happened to have the only one in the boat and it was the Schrade safety push button knife that you gave me, so I hastily opened it and cut the rope and let us loose and down we went to safety. I certainly treasure the knife and will try and not lose it, and when I get back to America, will make you a present of it; that is, if you would care to have it. This was at 9:30 P. M. We were in the boat all night and picked up by a warship the next morning, wet and cold and numbed and shivering, but in a week I got pulled together and am now nicely and completely settled at this hospital... B. E. HAWKE, M. D. * Mr. Goring says, "When the doctor returns the knife, I will have the letter and knife properly framed and present it to the Grinnell Library of Wappingers Falls, N. Y., to add to their collection of curios." The Schrade Cutlery Company feel considerable pride in this interesting story in which one of their safety push button knives played such an important part and feel that every one in everyday life will find their safety push button knives for ordinary use equally as convenient and necessary as Dr. Hawke found it when about to be dumped into the sea, and feel that the full merit of the knife was demonstrated in this instance. * The very next issue of The American Cutler (July 1917) carried an honest-to-goodness poem in praise of the Schrade safety switchblade. An Encomium of the Drop-Knife. No knife is so slick, It is quick on its trick And a joy that will last you through life. There is none 'neath the sun Just like it, not one, It's the Schrade Safety Push-Button Knife. If the button is pressed The blade does the rest, Opens out like a thing all alive; You break no thumb nail In your efforts--that fail-- If you're owning this Push-Button Knife. It's the handiest yet, It is everyone's pet, And with all good knife merits it's rife. Its blades are rare steel, And really ideal Is this notable Push-Button Knife. It's the very quick pick Of club, class, and clique, Its equal they cannot contrive; It's a true treasure trove, And a thing you will love Is this wonderful Push-Button Knife. A. W. BELLAW, DeGroff, Ohio * * * Note: In Oregon it is legal to make, sell, buy, or own switchblade knives. However, it is illegal here to carry a switchblade knife, a gravity knife, a dagger, or a dirk concealed on one's person, or for a convicted felon to possess a switchblade or gravity knife. Thirty states have banned possession of switchblade knives. Under federal law it is illegal to mail, carry, or ship a switchblade or gravity knife across state lines, as well as illegal to mail any item listing or advertising switchblade knives for sale. [Parts of this story story appeared in Knife World, August 1990, and in the National Knife Magazine, February 1993] http://www.knife-expert.com/